"Tangibly?" murmured Houston.
"Tangibly."
Her agitated breath had so bedewed the mouthpiece that when with trembling hands she replaced the holder it was like being released from a kiss.
VI
Tony came back from his visit to Houston in a temper of serene optimism.
"Well, Doodles," he cried, gaily, "I've saved Clare for you."
"Oh, you've saved Clare, have you?" She could not resist a slight accentuation of the pronoun, but he did not notice it.
"Yes, Houston was very decent. I told him how much I hated getting rid of the old place, and he was very decent. Of course he knows from Starkey that the Derby is a certainty and that in Full Moon and Vanity Girl I've got the two best three-year-olds in England."
"You're still infatuated with the filly?"
"Now wait a minute. Don't begin arguing till you hear what's been decided. Houston is going to lend me enough cash to pay off the present mortgages of Clare, and when that is done I'm going to mortgage the place to him on the understanding that if I don't settle up on the Monday after the Derby he takes immediate possession. I told him that I should want some ready money, and he offers to buy whichever horse I don't run in the Derby."